The Cathedral of the Assumption of Our Lady of Segorbe was originally a mosque. It was completely rebuilt in 1246 in Valencian Gothic style in such a manner that it preserves no trace of Arab architecture. Of this 13th-century edifice, only parts of the western façade, the vaults of several chapels, the load-bearing walls, the tower of Santa Barbara, the bell tower and the cloister remain. It was consecrated on in 1534, and has a single, cross-vaulted nave, without transept and dome, with chapels located between the buttresses. It is connected by a bridge with the old episcopal palace.
The bell tower, with a massive appearance and a square plan, is typically Romanesque in his simplicity. It stands at a height of 36 metres. The Gothic cloister has a trapezoidal plan and two floors: the lower one dates to the 14th-15th centuries, while the other was added in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. The main façade dates to 1665.
The presbytery was renewed in Renaissance style during the 16th century; the high altar was also added in 1530. The church is decorated by frescoes of Luis Planes.
The church was renovated in 1791-1795 in Neo-classic style, resulting in the nearly total hiding of the Gothic structure. The nave was lengthened, and new altars were added.
The Cathedral museum houses several artworks by local and foreign artists, belonging to the International Gothic, the 15th-century Flemish painting, the 16th-century Valencian school and more recent ones. Artists represented include Jaume Mateu (St. Jerome Altarpiece, c. 1450), Vicente Juan Masip and his son Juan (two 16th-century altarpieces), as well as the Italian Donatello, with an attributed work.
References:Saint-Georges de Boscherville Abbey is a former Benedictine abbey. It was founded in about 1113 by Guillaume de Tancarville on the site of an earlier establishment of secular canons and settled by monks from the Abbey of Saint-Evroul. The abbey church made of Caumont stone was erected from 1113 to 1140. The Norman builders aimed to have very well-lit naves and they did this by means of tall, large windows, initially made possible by a wooden ceiling, which prevented uplift, although this was replaced by a Gothic vault in the 13th century. The chapter room was built after the abbey church and dates from the last quarter of the 12th century.
The arrival of the Maurist monks in 1659, after the disasters of the Wars of Religion, helped to get the abbey back on a firmer spiritual, architectural and economic footing. They erected a large monastic building one wing of which fitted tightly around the chapter house (which was otherwise left as it was).